Bunny: A Novel

This was a surreal story that played on the edge of being either a very strange mental adventure, or some form of reality twisting powers yet to be fully realized. It's an interesting read altogether, though I wish the main character had a lot more personal agency and confidence in their own life and actions. Too often she is an observer to events, even ones she has created herself.

I'm sure you've heard about this very odd and very wicked book by now (it has over 80,000 Goodreads reviews!!) As 2022 drew to a close, was anxious to get to some of the books on my TBR, and this one was at the top of my list. The first half of the book was everything I hoped for. Sarcastic, funny and so, so smart. Mona Awad is an extremely gifted writer. I highlighted so many memorable passages. When the main character Samantha is observing her all-female creative writing cohort: "Their cheeks are plump and pink and shining like they've been eating too much sugar, but actually it's Gossip Glow, the flushed look that comes from throwing another woman under the bus.” Ms. Awad delightfully skewers graduate fiction programs and I loved that part of the book. I also loved the wordplay on the name of the college: Warren. Samantha struggles mightily to get along with not only her pretentious professor, but also the other members of the highly-coveted creative writing program. ("My smile is fixed on my face, nailed there, though it jerks under the pins.") When I reached the halfway mark, I thought to myself, oh okay, now I see where all the 1 and 2-star ratings came from. The story just gets WEIRD. But push though. I promise the payoff is worth it! This book is reminiscent of 'Mean Girls' but on acid. I couldn’t even get angry at what seemed to be cruelty to animals because I think (?) some was fantasy. I was frustrated at Samantha being such a docile participant in the “Bunny” clique, but she really pulled it together in the end. “I’ve never really not written, never not had another world of my own making to escape to, never known how to be in this world without most of my soul dreaming up and living in another. Until I came here.” I really loved the conclusion and felt like it tied the whole story together. Overall I recommend this very inventive and strange book!

3.5 what I loved The writing was spectacular, vivid descriptions that set the scene so well and created a truly moody, atmospheric tone. The story reminded me of both The Craft and Heathers, with a side of Mean Girls. But on much darker, more intense levels. Samantha is the outlier, as present in the three movies I mentioned, while the Bunnies are the “in” group. Despite her disdain of them, and their overly cutesie affectations, there’s little question that she’s still curious about them. The book is set at what seems to be a rather pretentious university in New England, the kind of academic world that looks down at other institutions from a position of arrogant self-importance. The Bunnies and Samantha are cohorts in the MFA program, one loftily touted as “experimental.” There is a very clear sense of academic snobbery going on here, which truly feeds the darker aspects. As for the rest of the book, it’s very much open to interpretation, which may not be everyone’s reading cup of tea but is something I enjoy. It reads like a fever dream, with neither Samantha nor the reader really ever knowing what’s real and what isn’t, what’s little more than a hallucination or a figment of an active imagination. Even some of the characters within the story… are they real or imagined/hallucinated? Arguments could be made in either direction. Honestly, most crucial aspects of the story could be interpreted either way, including their Workshop creations. Are they real, or are they metaphors for creativity? what I didn’t love The YA subtext to the dynamic between Samantha and the Bunnies. The outlier becomes part of the popular group, leaves it, comes back, leaves again. And then revenge against one another ensues, with the heroine getting the final word. That felt a little juvenile for those who were supposed to be masters-level academics. As was the plethora of woman-on-woman hate that was impetus for most everything that happened. Before her induction into the group, Samantha was incredibly judgmental of them. And the Bunnies sugarcoated all their nastiness in “suggestions” and “advice.” But what really got me was the walk down stereotypical lane. The truth of what their monstrous creations, as touted in the summary, were, why they were created. I won’t spoil it, but it was a disappointment for me. As was the fact that it was, in fact, a man that finally unraveled everything. That’s what it boiled down to, a group of women whose dynamic fell apart over a man. It felt like a monstrous betrayal to the fever dream of the rest of the book. overall This is a book that I feel could be read over and over again, and each time the reader would interpret it differently. Because of that, I want to read it again in the future to see if my experience with it changes. And despite the things I didn’t love about it, I think I would still highly recommend it.

Spoilers ahead I can't believe people think this book is literal. It's completely obvious that Samantha is schizophrenic. She hears voices, sees people that aren't there, and her thoughts are a tangle of nonsense. Ava is a figment of her imagination, someone she made up in response to trauma. Ava wears a black veil over her face, and wears gloves like the Hybrids do. Samantha is losing her mind throughout the book, her delusions getting crazier and more vivid. My mother is Paranoid Schizophrenic, so I'm pretty knowledgeable about this mental illness. She's doing better now, but there were years and years of her seeing crazy things like rainbow helicopters over her house, claiming they were dumping drugs on her house. She saw people following her. She talked to people who weren't there. She saw people in her front yard who had been dead for years. Their minds are total fantasy. The Bunnies see Ava and speak to her because they don't exist either. They are most likely real women in her Grad program workshop that her mind morphed into delusion. Her old professor who she got close to most likely stopped communicating with her because he saw her mental illness emerging. Samantha is in an incredibly difficult writing program and the stress is causing her mental break. These "Drafts" are obviously her failed attempts at writing. They keep "killing their darlings," which is a very common term in writing. People in the writing community (agents, editors, etc) love this book because they "get it." Someone who knows nothing about writing and isn't well read don't understand it and call it stupid and confusing. It's too advanced of a novel for the general public. That's the mistake. An editor should've realized that and made things a bit more obvious. I'm an author, so I get it.

I’m not sure what to say or how to feel about this book. It’s one of the strangest books I’ve ever read. It’s supposed to be a horror/thriller but, I felt more confused than terrified. There were times where my brain could wrap around the plot of what could be happening but then, everything changes and I’m lost again. I can only hope that this was the authors intention to keep the audience lost, leaving a lot of room for interpretation. Samantha is a complicated character and while I have my theories on what’s happening mentally, I’m not sure. Nothing feels real in the story. I hope that was the point. To make you question and feel like you will never know the true reasonings behind the events happening in the story. Would I recommend this book? Honestly, no. While the first part was entertaining, the rest of the book felt lackluster. It felt boring and messy with no real purpose. Part one was exciting and had potential of being a true horror or thriller until the fire was singed by the other parts. It felt bleh in the end.

"Bunny" by Mona Awad is a hypnotically strange and darkly funny novel that weaves together themes of loneliness, belonging, and the power of imagination. Following Samantha Heather Mackey, an outsider in her elite MFA program at Warren University, readers are introduced to a protagonist who feels utterly out of place among her pretentious and wealthy peers. The all-female clique known as the Bunnies, with their insufferable charm and twisted rituals, represents everything Samantha despises—until an invitation to their exclusive "Smut Salon" lures her in, forcing her to confront her prejudices and desires. As Samantha becomes increasingly entangled in the Bunnies' sinister yet intoxicating world, the novel blurs the lines between reality and imagination, creating a chilling atmosphere filled with ritualistic creativity and emotional turmoil. Awad's sharp prose and biting humor highlight the complexities of female friendships and the dangers lurking beneath the surface of seemingly innocent interactions. "Bunny" invites readers down a rabbit hole of enchantment and horror, culminating in a riveting exploration of the lengths one will go to fit in or escape loneliness. This provocative tale challenges conventional notions of identity and community, making it a compelling read for those drawn to unique and daring narratives.

BUNNY by Mona Awad This book is bizarre as hell. I can only describe it as a wild, disturbing, pastel-colored fever dream with sinister bunnies running amok. Samantha is a grad student at a prestigious university somewhere in New England. In her writing workshop there’s a clique of four rich, pretentious women who call each other Bunny. Samantha is equally repelled and intrigued by them. When Samantha receives an invite to one of Bunnies’ “Smut Salon” parties, she decides to attend despite her better judgment. That’s when the plot (and Samantha’s mental health/stream of consciousness) goes completely off the rails. I had many questions while reading this. Mainly, “WTF?” and lots of “What the hell is happening?”. The scenes of the Bunnies fake-praising each other’s work, while eating mini foods and conjuring hybrid bunny-boys was all sorts of weird and demented. I don't have any personal experience with hard drugs, but I assume this is what an acid trip would feel like. It’s a bit like Alice in Wonderland mashed up with Heathers and Mean Girls. There’s amusing, anti-establishment commentary at the beginning which I enjoyed. A little satire sprinkled with a bit of horror, if you’re into to that sort of thing. Ultimately, you’ll either love or hate this book. As for me, I’m… somewhere in the middle. Rating: 3.5/5 ⭐️

This review shares some thoughts about the nature of this book that some may consider to be spoilers because, honestly, most of us will only briefly think they know what it's about while reading it, and as they read further, their ideas will likely shift many times. Mona Awad's novel, "Bunny" is a rollercoaster ride for a reader which may leave you incredulous if you already know that it's about a student in a graduate program for writers of fiction. The main character, Samantha Heather Mackey, initially presents as outsider-chic amongst her all female cohort in that program. Alternately tender and snarky observations animate the setting, plot, and characters in vivid, and often evocative, beautiful language. In the beginning, I was worried Ms. Awad was merely making entertaining revenge porn, having perhaps had rough times in University herself. I understand why people sometimes write books where internalized outrage pours torrentially from characters' mouths for all that has gone unsaid or unheard in an author's own life but... THIS IS NOT THAT (although, the surgical skewering of seemingly vacuous academics and clique-girls will be a guilty pleasure for many). By mid-novel, magic, sex (including sub-textual lesbian eroticism) and power are all pulsed and whirled to dizzying, psychedelic effect. Here is where I was afraid Ms. Awad was going to lose control, and her wild, spun-out plot would end up being sopped up with a lame, vague "explanation" (like the TV show "Lost"). THIS DID NOT HAPPEN. Just hang on and keep reading. I've come to think this novel is about a young woman who grew up as an outsider, but is not nearly as chic or self-contained as she postures. She suffers a crisis in her life and writing that is astonishingly to her, brought about by an effortlessly lampooned writing program and its feet-of-clay professors, aided by students easily caricatured as one-dimensional, malevolent insiders that she envies too much to truly hate. By the end, I think "Smackie" begins to see and release her own "Bunny-dom" and accept her sad, lonely self as well as others (like her often spurned wannabe friend, Jonah, but also the Lion (the advisor she blindly blamed for not rescuing her). She steps out of her solipsistic funk and truly graduates... so the best I can tell, that makes this a left-field coming of age story. Woo Hoo! Enjoy the ride!

Samantha is the outsider in the MFA writing program at a prestigious East coast university. The Bunnies are four rich, pretty girls who’ve made a lifestyle, an addiction, out of cloying cuteness, (which Awad presents with dazzling pizazz) while also quoting Julia Kristeva et al. Virtually orphaned, and poor, Samantha’s one friend is an irreverent Goth-like girl called Ava, who saves her sanity. But the Bunnies exert their lure and before long, Samantha is attending their Smut Salons, where drugs are imbibed as they produce almost boyfriends who are kind of adoringly soulful pets. So it gets a bit occult and you don’t know quite what to think - at least I didn’t. It took a while to get pulled back into the emotional power of the book, which is pretty ravishing, particularly when we discover how the Scottish teacher nicknamed the Lion, once so close to Samantha, pulled right away after she dropped her bundle. Without dropping any more spoilers, suffice to say that there’s an astonishing turn of events towards the end (which also involve a little magic, or should we say, the still strong power of archetypal symbols) and it’s graduation time. Awad’s writing is hugely classy and compelling … and funny and crisp and riotous and rich and all kinds of good things. It really is superb (5). Personally, I steer away from non-real stuff unless it’s Harry Potter or good SF, so 4 in that regard, but if that’s your thing, you’ll be giving it a 5.

This book blows me away. Brilliant satire, with remarkable depth. Draws you in completely, makes you laugh, makes you cringe, makes your heart ache. It’s just brilliant. The comparisons to Heather and Carrie capture how smart and funny this book is, and it’s relationship to genre, but this book is like nothing else. Genius.

Ok ok so let's start with the delivery book and packing. It came on time, the packaging was okay and the book was in good condition. Love when amazon delivers. I'm only few chapters in and this is funny/scary/werid/ and I have no idea what on this earth the protagonist is onabout but I just can't seem to put it down I love it 😂🦇👻

I ordered two books that where handled very poorly by the deliver service. While the other one arrived in bad conditions, this one arrived just fine! No used marks and is the dyslexia-friendly version that i asked for! Definitely excited to try it! c

saw this book alot in book tok and wanted to try it out. All I am going to say it was pretty weird but satisfying I really loved it I got it in kindle unlimited but I want to buy it so I can read it each October. I loved it very much.